


Chocolate Frog

by Lying_potato



Series: Hogwarts AU [12]
Category: Timeless Fairy Tales - K. M. Shea
Genre: Elise is the smart one as usual, Gen, Tenebris is basically Grindelwald, Traincar of Hufflepuffs, story time!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29782989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lying_potato/pseuds/Lying_potato
Summary: Dooley just wants to complete his Chocolate Frog Card collection.
Series: Hogwarts AU [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2169327
Kudos: 7





	Chocolate Frog

**Author's Note:**

> Chronological Order:
> 
> Ducks  
> All Aboard  
> **Chocolate Frog**  
> Sorting  
> News  
> Mirror  
> Secrets  
> Fight  
> Greenhouse  
> Room where it happens  
> Detention  
> The Old Guard  
> Underground Fight Club

“Blimey! Not another Tenebris card!”

Alexsei cracks open an eye at the cry of dismay. The train compartment was _very_ warm, and he’d been lulled into a half-drowsy state with the steady, rhythmic rumblings of the train. He clearly wasn’t the only one—a look over at Stil showed that the other boy was still out like a light.

“What are you moaning about now, Dooley?” Elise sighs, sitting cross-legged on the floor of their cramped compartment on the Hogwarts Express. The back of her head was pillowed by the scant inches of space between him and Stil. _A Study of Wizarding Economics, Extended Version_ lay open in her lap, the heavy tome yellowed with age. Odd reading choice for a second-year, but Alexsei wasn’t one to judge.

“His Chocolate Frog Card collection,” says Callan over by the window seat, head propped up by one hand while sticking the other in an open bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. Out of the three Hufflepuff boys squished in the seat, he looked the most comfortable. “He’s been aiming for the Queen of Hearts as long as I’ve known him, to no avail. Blech, this is _seasalt—_ ”

“I’ve gotten Tenebris _six bloody times.”_ Dooley grouses, sweeping out one arm dramatically over his pile of crumpled boxes and Cards, and Callan and Alexsei lean away reflexively. Anyone who shared a dorm room with Dooley learned pretty quickly that the excitable second-year could be rather careless with his long limbs, and Dooley wasn’t exactly what one would call _slight_.

Hence, the reason why Dooley got a whole section of the train compartment to himself while the rest of them had crammed into the other side. Even Elise had elected to take the floor over the risk of accidentally being rendered unconscious. Not that the floor was necessarily _safer._

“Oi, Stil. What’d you get?” Dooley sticks out a foot to kick Stil, narrowly missing Elise’s face. To her credit, she only blinked and scooted a tad closer to Alexsei. He pats her head sympathetically.

“Wazzit-are we here?” Stil jerks up, nearly upending Callan’s bag of jellybeans and squishing Alexsei even more against the compartment door. “Sorry, ‘Lex. Callan, toss me one, would you?”

As Callan hands over a disturbingly bright blue bean that Stil promptly pops in his mouth, Dooley demands, “Your Chocolate Frog, Stil. I saw you buy one off the trolley witch when she came before. Better eat it before it melts, yeah?”

“Alright alright, don’t lose your head about it,” Stil says aggrievedly, tearing the shiny wrapping to open the box. “Alexsei, want the Frog? Fairly certain I’m eating toothpaste at the moment and I don’t fancy mixing the two.”

He accepts the squirming Frog as Stil triumphantly pulls out the Card from the box, Dooley practically salivating in anticipation.

“Who is it?” Dooley asks eagerly when Stil’s brows furrow in confusion.

“The Snow Queen-Hey, our Headmistress is on a Card!”

“Of course she is,” says Elise, sounding puzzled while Dooley slouches back in disappointment. “Rakel Graydim—well, I suppose she was Rakel Verglas at the time—is most famous for her defeat of Tenebris twenty years ago, didn’t you know?”

“…She did what now?” Stil says blankly.

“You’re Muggleborn, aren’t you?” remarked Callan.

“What’s that have to do with it?” Stil says, sounding defensive.

“Nothing other than the fact that you probably had no one to tell you about it,” Elise says crossly. “Don’t get your britches in a twist, you’re not the only Muggleborn here. I certainly didn’t know anything until the Arcainians took me in.”

“Yeah, but-“ Stil bites off his statement, suddenly looking shifty. He tended to do that a lot, Alexsei had noticed.

“Here’s the condensed version,” begins Callan, looking a tad bored. “Basically, Tenebris was a Durmstang dropout who wanted to rule the Wizarding World; there’s one of those nut jobs every generation or so. What makes this nutjob special is that he actually managed to take over nearly all of Europe before making the mistake of coming to Britain, where our Headmistress finally offed him.”

“Well, it’s a little more complicated than that,” Alexsei says, very much amused. He, Dooley, and Callan, being Purebloods, had heard this tale a million times over since childhood. “For one, you left out his entire army of the Chosen, and how he purposely left Britain for last because the Snow Queen was the only one he ever feared.”

Dooley snorts. “And for good reason, eh? She managed to take on his army _and_ duel him to the death without getting so much as a scratch, they say.”

“I didn’t know that.” Elise pushes her glasses up, looking interested. “The Snow Queen was that powerful?”

Alexsei opens his mouth to respond, but just then, the compartment door slides open so he's a bit more preoccupied with not falling out into the open hallway.

“Steady there, Kozlovka.” A brawny arm catches Alexei, shoving him back in. Rune, a third year in Gryffindor and a friend of his brother Yakov, grins down at him. Behind him is Falk, another one of the Arcanian brothers, who looks none too pleased at the seating arrangement of the Hufflepuffs.

“Elise, what are you doing on the floor?” Falk asks disapprovingly.

“Sitting.” Elise retorts flatly. “What are you doing butting into our compartment?”

“Looking for Gerhie.” says Rune. “You haven’t seen him, have you?”

“Scuttled away from me first chance he could. He’s probably making friends with all the other first-years.”

“Ugh. It’ll be a pain to find him then.” Rune says cheerily as he shoulders his way in, plopping himself down next to a rather stunned-looking Dooley. “So why’re you second-years talking about Tenebris and the Snow Queen? That stuff happened ages ago, and History of Magic doesn’t cover it until fifth year.”

“The noble Purebloods are educating the ignorant Muggleborn,” quips Stil. He points to himself while flashing a smirk at Callan, who rolls his eyes good-naturedly at the jab.

(Meanwhile, Falk continued to glare at Elise until the girl gave an indignant huff and moved to sit on Rune’s other side, upon which Falk promptly occupied her spot on the floor.)

“Oho!” Rune wags a finger in the air, seeming to enjoy the attention he was garnering from the entire compartment. “But I’ll bet the noble Purebloods didn’t mention the sordid tale of how the Snow Queen stole and married Tenebris’ favorite general, did they?”

“You don’t have to say it like _that—“_ Elise begins exasperatedly while Alexsei, Dooley, and Callan simultaneously exclaim, “She did _what_?”

“You can ask the new Defense professor if you don’t believe me. My brothers told me there’s a new one this year, and apparently she’s an _Auror_.”

“ _What_?!”

“And _this_ is why no one trusts you to keep your mouth shut,” mutters Falk while Stil looks as if Christmas had just come early.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> For reference, this takes place a year after All Aboard, NOT directly after.
> 
> Dedicated to Emmy’s favorite things: History lessons, Hufflepuffs, and Heroines with a certain icy moniker


End file.
